Worlds Connected: Tales of the Valley
by JFalcon
Summary: Book 2: Tales about the Pack Hunters, the Great Valley, the Bone Valley, and more! Slight fits of over drama, you've been warned. Chapters 4 of 5 posted! Read, Review, Request!
1. The Pack, and The Nest

Disclaimer: I do not own Universal Cartoon Studios' The Land Before Time (I think they're the ones who do) or Dark Horse Comics' The Age of Reptiles. I never have, and never will.

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**Introduction:** To answer the many requests to know more about the Deinonychus clan without forcing people to scour online stores and their local comic book shops for copies of the Age of Reptiles (Tribal Warfare) I have prepared this special prologue to better introduce our sharp tooth brothers and sisters. 

In the Age of Reptiles the characters are drawn a certain way that may not be consistent with the scientific appearance of the animal, especially since the scientific opinion of the animal's appearance is always subject to change. In this story I have tried to describe how the creator of the Age of Reptiles, Ricardo Delgado, draws his characters, and not how they should scientifically appear. The deinonychus more or less resemble the Jurassic Park's Velociraptors, their color is an orange-goldish tan and various dark brown tiger stripes or other such markings, therefore imagine a JP raptor with the markings I will try to describe when you imagine these dinosaurs.

This is the second book in my Land Before Time/Tribal Warfare cross over. It contains at least one chapter dedicated to each of the major factions in the third book, The Adventure of Bone Valley. I wanted to do more with the deinonychus, but didn't want it running too long. Each of these bonus chapters will tell you more about a group of dinosaurs, for example the Great Valley dinosaurs, or the T-Rex family. They will explain more about the players in the third book, and explain a bit of why things are happening and why the dinosaurs are responding in the way they do, maybe even show you a glimpse of what's about to happen in the upcoming book 4. Because however these take place before the bone valley adventure I'm putting them up as a prequel even though Bone Valley was written first, many apologies for any confusion.

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_**Passage One . . .  
**_**The Pack!**

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To an outside observer the scene would have looked like chaos. Five small deinonychus trying to take on an entire herd of plant eaters three times their size? 

The smaller dinosaurs ran through the entire herd, nipping at flanks and swiping with their three clawed hands, or occasionally springing and using the deadly retractable claw on each foot to rip open a wound on one of the larger animals.

But there was a method to the madness, and soon the small tan colored dinosaurs had singled out a pair of the duck billed dinosaurs, two younger ones who had been more easily herded than the oldsters.

From out of nowhere more of the pack hunters appeared, four of them leaping into the air and landing on the two young duck bills!

Quetzal, a deinonychus with feathers going down the back of it's neck held on to the larger dinosaurs head, claws dug into the creature's flesh as deadly teeth tried to bite out the behemoth's eyes.

The entire clan had their own unique markings, but Quetzal was the only one to have a feathered neck. Quetzal also had three nasty looking pink scars on her hindquarters, a souvenir from a fight with another deinonychus.

Like the rest of the clan Quetzal was a tan base color with a yellow underbelly and dark brown stripes somewhat rounded around the edges along her back and legs , including one over each eye. The final third of the tail was completely colored as were the hands and feet.

But now, in the heat of the hunt Quetzal's hands and feet were stained with dark red blood, and her mouthful of sharp white teeth were employed to rip into the back of the hadrosaur's neck.

With a low, somewhat dimwitted moan the duck billed dinosaur fell face forward to the ground, the deinonychus on it's back leapt off before it hit the ground, but Quetzal, claws still gripping the back of it's neck and jaws still clamped on the back of it's head, rode it to the ground without so much as a flinch.

Quetzal was arguably the pack's best hunter, one of the fastest runners, and most reliable tracker, and in addition to these things, she could be utterly fearless.

A few of the deinonychus rushed for the downed prey, forgetting the live one that was struggling with two of their comrades still on it's back.

Leopard held onto his prey, foot claws planted, and hands scratching wildly to find a firm purchase! Leopard was different from the others in a way just as obvious as Quetzal's feathers, Leopard had rings and spots rather than stripes, and beyond the spots, he had almost no dark brown markings at all.

Also, rather than a sleek, angular snout like the others, Leopard had an array of pointed horns on his snout, nothing too large, but they were noticeable.

While the cause was anyone's guess, the came in handy as Leopard butted his head against the duckbilled dinosaur again and again in an attempt to make it stop thrashing about. He let out a heart stopping roar, just in case that helped the great stupid dinner tray to stop moving around and accept it's fate.

It didn't, and Leopard was in danger of being thrown off completely!

But Dark Eye leapt in at just that moment, digging his claws into the duckbills soft throat and biting a large portion of it away, all three deinonychus leapt to safety as the second duckbill tumbled to the ground.

Dark Eye's differences from the rest of the pack were less dramatic than those of his comrades but he was no less unique.

His markings, like Quetzals, were pretty standard, though the edges were sharper and less rounded he had a striped back and about a third of his tail completely colored as well as his hands and feet. A dark brown stripe came down from the back of his head, over his eyes and to his chin, but not covering the tip of his snout.

Along the back of his neck, rather than attractive feathers were spikes, short and evenly spaced apart leading down to the base of his somewhat lengthy deinonychus neck.

Dark Eye was the only member of the pack to have a white underbelly, everyone else's was a dull yellow color, but what earned Dark Eye his name was the fact that his eyes were a deep, dark shade of red, while the rest of the pack had light pink eyes.

He stood over the kill with a satisfied look painted across his fearsome face, and his comrades began to feast upon the duck billed dinosaur before it had even had a chance to finish dying.

Dark Eye surveyed the other deinonychus bouncing about wildly, excitedly trying to bite off as much as they could and swallow it before anyone noticed it was missing.

One shoved his way through the others, he was darker than the others, dark brown where the others were merely a golden tan, and almost black where the others were dark brown. It was Neckbiter, large and tough, a real brawler.

He had three scars on his hindquarters just like Quetzal's, and it had been Quetzal who had given them to him, Neckbiter's face was marked in such a manner that his snout seemed to have been dipped into a barrel of ink, and though his eyes were simply pink like almost everyone else's, they had a hateful inner fire in them that seemed somehow dark in a different way.

He growled challengingly at Dark Eye, and the other deinonychus lunged forward, snapping at the darker colored hunter, Neckbiter leapt back and promptly decided to challenge someone else over at the second carcass.

Neckbiter and Dark Eye shared the leadership of the pack. It was an unusual arrangement, but one that had served the pack well for some time, though on most occasions where Neckbiter and Dark Eye both went out on the hunt at the same time, there could be some confusion as to who was in charge, on this occasion that had been remedied as each brother took control of a different pack.

Neckbiter had led the first team, and Dark Eye had led the ambush team, and now that the kills were made the teams dissolved into each other as all present ate as much as they could as quickly as they could.

The pack had made this kill at the very edge of their territorial border, and a second clan was likely to venture over the line and try to take it if they were nearby and thought they had great enough numbers.

Confrontation between clans was rare, but also very fierce and because neither clan had any regard for the well being of the other's members, fatalities were almost to be expected of such a meeting.

One Claw stood tall and watched the trees around them for movement, listened over the sound of her clan's feasting for any sound of unfamiliar dinosaurs. One Claw's markings and just about everything about her was uniform to the other deinonychus except for the fact that she was missing two finger on one of her hands, resulting in a hand with only one claw, hence the name.

She stood up, straight as a log, and glared out across the plains.

The duck billed dinosaurs had calmed down now, and were moving away slowly and calmly. The circle of life went on for them, their comrades were dead but replaceable and as long as they were still alive nothing else seemed to matter to them.

The deinonychus however worked in a slightly different manner, when a comrade was killed the pack would withdraw, but if it was possible they would return later for revenge. Not necessarily on the behalf of their fallen friend, there was nothing that could be done for that one, rather they would take revenge as a way to discourage others from taking them lightly, or attacking them again.

But the plant eaters just kept moving, saying good-bye to their fallen friend forever and doing nothing at all to discourage the pack from taking more meals from the herd.

In the time it took to consider and reflect on these things, One Claw got wind of the other clan.

They were coming, and in greater numbers than the ten deinonychus currently enjoying their latest kills. One Claw barked out a warning to Dark Eye and Neckbiter.

Both were in agreement on what course of action they should take next, so there was no confusion for the rest of the pack. Dark Eye leapt atop one of the carcasses and glared off in the direction One Claw had indicated, and Neckbiter kept on eating.

They were going to stay, the question was what were their rivals planning to do about it?

Usually the invading pack would either walk away once they saw the killers still standing over the carcass, or they'd attack and a fight would break out.

Of course either way anyone who didn't know how to spot them would never see them until it was too late. The entire pack was on edge, but only Dark Eye and One Claw were actually looking for possible attackers.

Or so it seemed until Pytor screeched and leapt out as if he meant to attack One Claw, who turned around in surprise and leapt back out of the way just in time to avoid the invader that would have landed on her, claws extended for the kill.

The invader was not so lucky when Pytor landed on him, Pytor's legs and arms were darkly marked, as if he were wearing long boots and gloves, he had a terrible scar across his snout, and one of his hands had been bitten away some time ago. Such an injury may have proven fatal, but Pytor was lucky to be free of infection, and was ferocious enough that having one hand had very little effect on his hunting and fighting abilities, if anything it made him even more ferocious in combat, which he demonstrated as his one hand ripped away the attacker's throat, one of his long killing claws cutting the invader's belly open and spilling his innards.

Dark Eye let out a roar to warn his pack and leapt off of the carcass in time to avoid another hunter trying to attack him. The invading deinonychus immediately prepared to spring again, and the two glared at each other for less than a moment before two of Dark Eye's pack leapt onto his attacker.

Invading deinonychus began to charge out of the long grass that Dark Eye and his ambushers had been hiding in not so long ago. The defending pack needed to react quickly, Dark Eye charged for the biggest opponent he could find, a quick glance at Quetzal told her exactly where he wanted her.

As the large female attacker came at Dark Eye, a crazed look in her pink eyes. Dark Eye lowered himself to the ground as if he were going to sleep. His attacker slowed a bit considering the possible form of surrender it's prey seemed to have adopted for the split second before Quetzal leapt out and ended it's confusion permanently.

Dark Eye was up, he saw an enemy hunter leap towards Leopard, he rushed to intervene, but out of the corner of his left eye he saw another invader charging for him. He turned to meet this attacker head on, only to be knocked to the ground from behind.

Neckbiter was moving away from him slowly, a wicked sneer on his face as he looked at the invader about to end his brother's life. As he scrambled to his feet, Dark Eye had little doubt that Neckbiter had been the one to knock him down, but what did he gain from it at a time like this?

He would have to worry about Neckbiter later, he turned an instant before the charging invader struck him, he lunged forward and sank his teeth into his opponent's shoulder, the two tumbled and rolled, claws scratching, jaws snapping.

Dark Eye was on his back, the invader came down on him quickly, jaws and claws ready to kill. Dark Eye remained perfectly still, apparently beaten until the last second when he thrust his head up and bit down on his surprised enemy's throat and ripped it away. Blood flowed freely down his face, and his enemy collapsed over him.

Dark Eye came to his feet and looked around. The other pack was withdrawing, six of them were unable to follow or generally do anything ever again, two of Dark Eye's own clan had been ripped apart by the enemy.

The numbers meant nothing to Dark Eye, he didn't really count. For him it was simply enough that many more enemies were dead than friends. But he glanced at the dead from his own clan and snarled at the invaders, the feeling seemed to be mutual throughout the entire pack.

The invaders had come with a slight numeric advantage, now Dark Eye's pack had that advantage. The invaders turned and darted off towards the forest, and Dark Eye's clan went back to their meal.

A little later four members of the other clan returned, carefully, cautiously they approached the spot where the fighting had occurred.

They made sure to keep a distance from the duckbill carcasses, and instead began to pull one of their own clan away from the battleground.

The injured dinosaur began to groan, surprising Dark Eye who'd thought it was dead. It squawked threateningly at Dark Eye and his clan and they took time out from their dinner to observe this spectacle as the four deinonychus dragged their comrade, who seemed to be quite pleased by the fact that it was going to be rescued.

Quetzal started to grin. Dark Eye, who just observed with mild interest, doubted that she was happy for their cousin.

The injured dinosaur had to realize it was doomed. But then, no one ever believes it when their time has come, and when the dying deinonychus had been pulled far enough away the superior look on it's face dissolved as it's comrades tore into it and began to eat. It did not survive very much longer after that, though it howled in agony for as long as it did.

Dark Eye looked at Quetzal, who looked at him with a satisfied expression on her face. He wondered if she'd guessed what was about to happen to the unfortunate creature. Quetzal had a great love for revenge, and with two clan members dead she'd probably been planning something dangerous already.

Maybe this would satisfy her instead. Dark Eye certainly didn't want her doing something crazy, like when she and Leopard had snuck into a tyrannosaur den to steal eggs out of revenge for Blueback's murder of Snake Eye.

But Dark Eye did not understand the other clan's motivation to attack their comrade. The rival deinonychus did not appear to be starving, and they could just as easily have left their comrade to die, there was no need for them to risk journeying back while Dark Eye and his clan were still on the kill sight, just to cannibalize their own casualties.

Dark Eye and his clan continued to watch as their rivals ate, but eventually the confusion and therefore interest in the matter wore off and they went back to eating the dead leaf eaters.

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**_Passage Two . . ._  
The Nest.**

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The deinonychus pyramid was not a grand flat sided triangular building in the middle of the desert, but it was still quite fantastic. 

Perched on the edge of a cliff and protected by a canyon which had been bridged by a log too frail for anything but a deinonychus to cross over, several great trees had twisted and mutilated, intertwined and wrapped around each other forming a twisted looking conical structure about two and a half times the size of a Tyrannosaur standing at it's full height. Several large thorns, each the size of a deinonychus' head protruded from the trunks and provided safety from any larger predators that might leap over the gap.

Inside this place was the deinonychus lair, a nesting ground, a sleeping area, and a safe place to hide it was difficult to imagine a better home.

Here young deinonychus like Ravener and Slash could grow up--assuming they were strong enough to survive that long, there were a hundred and one ways for a young dinosaur to die--and eventually become contributing members of the pack.

Ravener was almost identical to Neckbiter, his father. His colors were slightly lighter than Neckbiter's, but much darker than average. Like his father the first half of his snout seemed to have been dipped in ink, only these markings covered more of his face, stopping just before they covered his pink eyes. Most deinonychus' tails were ringed with dark brown stripes until the final third which was completely darkened, in Ravener's case the entire tail was colored very dark brown, and so were his legs right up to the thigh.

He was rough and had been known to injure his older siblings as well as his younger ones and it was all that Halla, his mother, could do to keep him from inflicting more than mere injury on his playmates.

Halla, unlike her mate, Neckbiter was actually a lighter color than the other deinonychus, and this had nothing to do with the fact that she saw much less sunlight than the other members of the pack, she was simply naturally lighter in color just as Neckbiter and Ravener was naturally darker in color.

Halla was calm, patient and very unlikely to leap before she looked. These were qualities that had made her an acceptable hunter in her time and a fine parent now.

The patience came in especially handy.

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Slash had three long thin stripes going down her neck, and six going down her back. She had three stripes on her legs, and then two no her arms. From knees and elbows down she was devoid of any markings. Her tail had two rings around it instead of the usual three, then was completely dark brown from the mid point to the tip. 

Of course curiosity could be a dangerous thing, but how was Slash to know this? She'd never really been in any danger that she could recall. Like most deinonychus she had no concept of her own mortality.

She was the sort of deinonychus who preferred to be left alone, she had many questions about the world around her but preferred to answer them herself rather than rely on someone else's opinion, even if that meant drawing the wrong conclusion.

Slash's mother, Nata, had far too many 'normal' offspring to tend to, to really concern herself with Slash. Nata was a less patient, less observant mother than Halla, but she was little younger and had by far less experience than Halla did with raising youngsters. Nata had already written Slash off as the walking dead, unless the child became more interested in being part of the group, and less interested in observing . . . everything, Slash would not survive very long.

Incidentally both Halla and Nata had come to realize why many dinosaurs ate their own young but neither had done so . . . yet.

Some times it was very tempting.

There was never a time when youngsters were allowed to hunt, but they could venture outside the pyramid. This had less to do with the deinonychus clan wanting it's offspring to see the world around them, and more to do with the fact that the children outnumbered the adults so there wasn't much the larger dinosaurs could do about the rowdier broods, beside make ideal threats and place half-hearted guards at the pyramid's entrances. Dinosaurs never did invent safety gates.

If the young were especially daring they could venture out across the log and into the woods on the other side, but few who ever made that trip returned, those few who did were usually dragged by the tail by some "cruel" adult who'd ruined their fun. It was common knowledge however that the greatest hunters had all gone out and made their first kills as infants.

"Common knowledge" is a term which here means "utter fiction made up by children who believe themselves immortal."

And so, determined to find adventure Ravener leapt onto the log and scurried across it to the other side.

Immediately there were new sounds, sights and smells! Compared to the old pyramid this was a fantastic new paradise, he could hear adventure calling his name and begging him to come and rip it's throat out!

He dashed off into the woods, looking at every new thing he came across and springing at whatever looked like it might taste good!

It was not long at all before he came to a lake, the sight of so much water made him realize how thirsty he was. He drank, and noticed that there were fish in the water.

Well those little wriggly things had to taste good. Why? Well . . . mostly because Ravener had decided it must be so and therefore it was so. He sprang into the water and the fish swam away quickly.

But his spring into the water would prove less than wise in just a moment.

He turned and saw a fish wriggling along the bank, making it's way back to the water.

What the lung fish was doing out of the water didn't really matter to Ravener, and he wasn't about to waste his time on useless speculation or that thing the grown ups called 'caution' he just hopped over to the fish--which was nearly as big as he was--and picked it up with both claws.

It looked delicious . . .

From behind him rose up a pair of eyes . . . watching him from the surface of the water and slowly moving closer.

Ravener took a bite out of the fish, it was disgusting. He turned around and tossed it back into the water, but as it sailed through the air a giant monster leapt out of the water, catching the fish in it's gigantic jaws of doom and biting it in half, it slammed into the ground just inches away from the infant deinonychus.

Ravener jumped back in surprise, but tried to get a good look at this strange new dinosaur, it was a phobosuchus, not that Ravener would have benefitedd very much from that information.

He didn't care what it was called, how much it looked like what would some day be known as an alligator, all that interested him was that it's ambush had been ruined and it now appeared to be dead. It was just laying there completely still, it's mouth slightly agape . . .

Ravener knew that fish was pretty terrible, good thing he only took a little bite.

Now he had the strangest urge to go closer and look inside that mouth . . .

As he got closer he noticed an insect buzz around and land on the other dinosaur's tongue, still the phobosuchus didn't budge an inch.

Even as an adult the phobosuchus would have been simply enormous compared to Ravener, so having killed it he felt quite pleased with himself, and decided there was no need for caution. He approached the thing and leaned forward to look inside it's mouth.

The insect buzzed away from the apparently dead dinosaur's tongue and landed on it's eye, which caused it's jaws to snap shut, and for it to shake it's head.

Ravener was running away at top speed before the larger dinosaur even realized that it's prey wasn't in it's jaws, and dejectedly slid back into the water.

And he would continue to run until he reached the log and leapt over it, running dangerously fast across the dangerously untrustworthy log he dashed into the pyramid, quite certain that the Phobosuchus had followed him and would be able to smash his way in he put as many fatter juicier adults as he could between himself and the entrance.

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**End . . .**

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**Closing**: The majority of the main Deinonychus are from Age of Reptiles: Tribal Warfare, a tale of a Deinonychus clan and a Tyrannosaurus family battling for control of a valley, it is a story that I claim no ownership over. It also has nothing to do with the Land Before Time, the AoR dinosaurs don't even talk, but I crossed them over anyway because I thought they were both such fantastic tales. 

Some might think that Delgado's boys are too violent for the Land Before Time universe, but to them I suggest re-watching the first movie. I mean c'mon, Littlefoot's mom slams Sharp tooth's head into a mountain side with her tail twice, crushing a few rocks while she's at it, then gets a big chunk of flesh ripped out of her back! Because it is a children's movie, amazingly neither dinosaur bleeds as a result of any of this, but if they had it would have been very similar to Age of Reptiles. Later the kids murder Sharp tooth (I call it a murder because they planned to kill him from the start, at no point was the plan designed to merely scare him off, they knew what had to be done. Kind of harsh for a children's movie though) this is a kid's movie with attitude, I love it! (Most of the sequels are good too)

In this story I took Quetzal, Dark Eye, Leopard, One Claw and invented Neckbiter whom all meet Littlefoot long ago, back in Littlefoot's New Friends. This current story takes place years and years later, or at least long enough for Littlefoot and his friends to grow up and have families. These are the main adults, the main children are Ravener and Slash, both of whom I had to create, and for support I created a whole pack of other deinonychus, many of them, like Pyke or Blaine are just extras. Names thrown in so you don't get confused by a lot of "hey you". Some may be glorified with a speaking line but otherwise just exist as background characters and possible cannon fodder.

I hope you've enjoyed this little look into the pack . . . one problem some of my friends had with it was that the dinosaurs don't speak. Others didn't notice this and weren't bothered by it, but I'm told more could have been accomplished had Dark Eye and someone else, Leopard perhaps, simply sat down and talked to each other for ten pages.

I didn't want this to be a long fireside conversation, I wanted this to be another adventure in the lives of these poor doomed dinosaur that also takes a little time to explain some features of them. Words just didn't seem necessary, they might have simplified a few things, but there are certain things that just shouldn't be simplified. As always feel free to e-mail me any big questions, or suggestions. This chapter is subject to revision later, if it becomes too big of a problem the dinosaurs will speak in some later update.

JFalcon


	2. The Family, and The Rogue

I'll try to be brief. I did not invent any of the T-Rexes in the main story so I cannot take credit for them with the excepton , I did invent Anko, and Chomper's child. Chomper of course is from the Land Before Time movies and I included him because I felt like having more actual Land Before Time characters involved in this story, and to be quite frank I always kind of liked him.

The Deinonychus from Age of Reptiles look nothing like Land Before Time III's Velociraptors, and while the rift between the AoR Rexes, and the LBT Rexes is not so big (probably since the Deinonychus were never meant to look like raptors and the rexes were meant to look like rexes) it does exist, suffice it to say that Delgado's dinosaurs all look much skinnier than their overfed LBT counterparts, other than that and the two are close enough to one another.

Don't argue! ElseRexy "da Wrench" Minestrone will break yer face . . . with a wrench!

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**_Passage One . . ._  
The Family!  
**_(Nobody messes with "the family!" Montoni Carboni Pastroni Baloney Rex will make you an offer you can't refuse . . . because if you refuse it he'll eat you!)_

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The sunrise over the mountains brought on an orange sky. Gray clouds moved lazilly along, uninterested in the world below them. 

In the grassy plains where the long necks made their homes one young long neck woke before the rest of its herd and dared to begin feeding on the treetops near the edge of those plains.

It was not long before the long neck was contently munching on the leaves, it felt certain that it could reach its herd in time if in the event of an attack.

And indeed it was not far from its herd at all. But in order to reach something, one must run in the correct direction and in another moment this would not be the case at all.

The long neck continued to contently munch on tree stars until it heard the low growl coming from inside the trees.

It looked into the trees, curious to see what was making this strange noise. It also backed away from the tree line, just in case of danger.

And danger did indeed arrive when Climber's dark form emerged from the trees, jaws wide open, saliva dripping down her chin . . .

Climber was dull green, on her back were purple stripes lined with gray-green, she had a blotch of purple on her head that resembled a bandana pulled down over her eyes.

The long neck howled in surprise and turned to run only to find his path blocked by two more of the monsters!

One was slightly bigger than the other two, he had a white underbelly and lighter green scales, his back, which was covered in armoresque plating was a surprising shade of blue, this was the vicious Blue Back.

The other, Talon looked much like Climber, except that instead of a purple mask on her face, Talon had a blotch of purple on her nose, which rose up sharply as if it too were armored.

Talon and Blue Back blocked the long neck's escape back to his herd, which were now fully awake and bellowing roars of protest, surprise, fear; everything that that long neck was feeling knowing perfectly well that it was the target.

There was safety in numbers and it was all alone.

Climber let out a heart stopping roar and charged, the long neck turned and ran in the only direction he could: away from his herd and the trees.

His family, his herd, did nothing to pursue him.

The three Tyrannosaurs however acted just the opposite, chasing after him and roaring ferociously all the while!

They chased and they roared, at one point Talon leapt and nearly landed on the long neck's back, but he cut a sharp right, back towards the trees and lashed out with his tail at that moment, knocking her out of the air!

Blue Back and Climber closed in on either side and the long neck whipped his tail about frantically to ward them off, and it did seem to work.

Indeed the two rexes slowed down, and were joined by Talon who did not seem interested in getting too close either. The long neck glared at them threateningly, daring to believe that he had actually done the impossible, actually fended off three of the most dangerous predators known to his kind, dared to believe he was safe!

Then, the thunderous sound of trees snapping as something big crushed them in it's wake, the long neck looked to the tree line just in time to see the fourth T-Rex explode from within like a ball of molten lava shooting from the top of a volcano!

He looked just in time to see Long Jaw's attack, but not soon enough to begin to escape, not soon enough to keep the gigantic maw of the dark green—almost black—Tyrannosaur, Long Jaw from ripping into his back and severing his spine.

The long neck fell to the ground, gazing up in horror at his soon to be killer, the great and terrible Long Jaw, whose enormous mouth was filled with many sharp serrated looking teeth, who was surrounded it seemed by a small cloud of pests and insets eager for any leftovers . . .

Long Jaw's eyes seemed to be laughing, as if it were all some funny joke, and the long neck realized it was. Long Jaw had lurked, waited for his comrades to chase their prey back towards the trees even though the long neck had been trying to move away from them.

The long neck heard the last pitiful calls from his herd, calls meant to inquire whether or not he were still alive, what a cruel joke!

Though not as cruel, it would turn out, as the fact that Long Jaw did not finish the kill. He did not do anything to put a speedier end to the long neck's life. He did not even care really, that his prey was still alive.

And still alive the long neck was, even as the other three rexes came and all four began to eat him, he was still alive . . . though thankfully not for long.

* * *

**_Passage Two  
_****The Rouge!** (Around here I realized my dinosaur mafia jokes just weren't funny and had myself committed, this portion of the story was written by Bronto the Squealer)

* * *

Chomper had grown a great deal since the time he'd spent with the great valley dinosaurs. Now he was a fully grown sharp tooth. His lavender hide was marked with several minor scars, scars he'd recieved in combat with other sharp teeth as well as some of his more resistant meals. 

His wife--actually, the rough and tough sharp tooth term for it would be 'mate' but since that was also the word for friend, Chomper prefered to think of her in the leaf eater way, permanent beloved companion, or wife--Anko had a few scars of her own but nothing to interfere with her stunning beauty as far as he was concerned. They were roughly the same age--he might be somewhat older--but she was still a little bigger than he was, and she was green on green. That is overall she was a dark green with a lighter green underbelly, she had gray stripes but when Chomper looked at her he was mostly distracted by the green.

Green is a very attractive color for a sharp tooth, just thought you'd like to know.

Anko was his world, and she probably knew it. It was no use acting tough around her since she was tougher, and she knew that too.

But she didn't mind that he had a kinder heart than most others, if anything she seemed happy about it. She'd made it quite clear however that their child would grow up to be quite the tyrant, with none of his father's soft tendencies.

Their child, whom Chomper had named Littlefoot, grew like a quick weed, he was still unable to leave the nest for very long, but that would end soon. Really, it needed to end soon because Anko wanted to move on to another territory, she had started complaining about mixed packs prowling the area.

Chomper hadn't seen any such thing, he was sure it was just her over protective maternal side showing it's face, however she was the fighter in the family, if she felt a struggle coming and wanted to walk away Chomper knew it was best to walk away.

He just had no idea how soon that struggle would show its ugly head, or how horribly it would change his perfect, happy life.

That evening he and Anko rested side by side with their child in between them, all was quiet and calm. A true hunter never trusted the calm, and Chomper would never forgive himself for it.

But he enjoyed it that evening. It seemed as if for that one night nothing existed in the world except for him and his family, it was heavenly.

No other predators, no need to hunt for prey since they were all well fed, everything was right.

Chomper chuckled and looked at his wife and son, both quietly resting. "I live just for moments like this." He said softly to himself. Anko gave him a confused look, as if to ask what he was talking about, but he just smiled and closed his eyes.

He let sleep claim him, safe in the darkness of their lair--a rather comfortably spacious cave--lulled by the silence of the night.

"RROOWWRRR!" An ear splitting roar shook the cave, and two more answered it!

Chomper's eyes snapped open and he was up in an instant! His son seemed to be terrified and Anko . . .

Where was Anko?

It was early morning, the sun was just beginning to rise, its light pouring into the cave. Chomper sensed that all was not right! There was an odd scent in the air . . . several odd scents!

He rushed out of the cave and looked around, there was no sign of Anko.

"HHRROOWWRR!" The roar came again, it was familiar in an unfamiliar way. Chomper had heard that roar before . . . somewhere. But not that voice. It was answered by three more, and Chomper dashed towards them with all speed.

He knew what he'd find when he reached the source. But he didn't want to accept it. Couldn't believe it.

Anko was more than just a mate, she was his love, his protector, his entire universe, she was strong and brave and . . .

She was dead.

Standing over her was a large and powerful male of their own species, whose dark green color seemed almost black in the dim early morning light, but Chomper did not fail to notice the somewhat oversized jaws, dripping with red blood. Close by was a companion with bright blue plates going down his back. The dark green one was bleeding from a bite wound to the tail, indeed his three companions all seemed to have suffered some sort of terrible wound.

But Chomper didn't care if Anko had put up a good fight. It obviously hadn't been good enough and now . . . now there was just no point! What could he do? If she couldn't stop these four no one could, and it hadn't been fair in the first place! Maybe if he'd been there, maybe if he could have helped her . . .

He felt a strange hatred, it was a completely new concept, never before had he actually hated something. He'd felt a desire to kill, but for food. Now he felt that desire to kill . . . for some unknown reason. Pleasure? No, not that . . . but revenge? It didn't really matter. They were going to die, he'd see to that.

What did he have to lose that he hadn't just lost?

He didn't give a challenging roar to announce his presence, he just charged, slamming into the blue-backed male and sending him sprawling, he leapt without a thought on one of the females--who suffered an injured thigh--and went straight for the throat.

The larger male, scales so dark green that they were almost black lunged forward and knocked him away, Chomper's jaws closing not on the soft throat of his victim but instead on nothing but air!

It wasn't fair! What did these four want? What did they gain by taking away his happy life? What gave them the right?

The injured female began to back away, the larger green male seemed to cover her retreat. But Chomper wouldn't allow it, he wouldn't let them escape!

Maybe his heart was too much like that of a leaf eater, because he didn't see these creatures as his own kind, he didn't see them as fellow predators, they were just horrible monsters, nightmares made flesh, heartless cold beasts!

He rushed for the large male, this one was larger than Anko had been which made him gigantic compared to Chomper, but that didn't matter! He lunged forward only to stop short and fall on his face.

He looked back to see that the blue-backed male had bitten his tail just before he could lunge, now before he could get up the same stomped over to him and stepped on his head.

"Stay down, brat!" Was what he said as his three companions casually walked off.

Chomper couldn't stand it! They couldn't get away, he couldn't let that happen! He was too weak, too powerless, his world had been turned upside down and torn asunder and there was nothing he could do about it!

He began to struggle, and the blue back pressed his head into the mud. "Stay down or I'll kill you."

What was there to live for? Chomper continued to struggle, if he could just get his head free . . .

The other invaders were moving off, getting too far away! He had to stop them!

"Did you have two mates?" Blueback demanded. "No? Well then who'll care for your infant once I crush your empty head?"

Chomper froze suddenly, and lie there. His world was not destroyed . . . it was terribly damaged but there was still one thing worth living for . . .

He glared after the blue-backed male as he started off without a word. He hated him!

But he hated himself too. He was too weak, too soft, and without Anko he was too empty.

He walked slowly over to his dead love and collapsed next to her. What could he do? He knew he should go to their child, but he couldnt leave her, didnt want to. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"No. I'm . . . so sorry." Anko said. It took Chomper a moment to realize that it hadnt been his imagination! She was still alive! "I . . . I couldn't . . . protect you." She said.

"Why? Why didn't you bring me with you? Together we might have--"

"I didn't want . . . you to get hurt." She sighed. "I'm . . . supposed to . . . protect you."

"No! No you're not, I never asked you to protect me!" Chomper growled. "We're supposed to protect each other!"

"I liked . . . keeping you safe. I . . . just couldn't this time . . . he was too fast, I . . ." She trailed off and Chomper felt something break inside him.

She wouldn't make it. Her wounds were too many, too deep, she was using what life she had left to apologize when he was the one at fault! "I'll make them pay, I promise! I'll get them, every last one of those no good cousins of ours, I--"

"No!" She gasped, and doing so seemed to hurt her quite a bit. "You don't . . . understand! There was a fin . . . a-a fan on his back . . . he'll try to--!" She seemed panicked, as if there were something vitally important he had to know, but there wasn't enough left of her to get it out. Her eyes were hazing over, but what life remained in them pleaded with him to understand what she couldn't say. To figure it out . . .

But how could he? He wanted to know but he didn't understand and she'd never tell.

Her eyes closed for the last time, and Chomper felt all the energy leave his own body, he might as well have been dead as well.

He lay there, not knowing how long, maybe he slept, he couldn't be sure. But when he opened his eyes again his son was lying in between him and Anko, just as it had been the night before.

For an instant he thought it had been a nightmare, but this wasn't their cave.

And Anko was not breathing.

Chomper got up and looked down at his son. "So you came all this way alone?" He said softly. The child unfortunately couldn't speak yet, he just looked up at him. Chomper glared off in the direction the four sharp teeth had moved off in. If he were alone he'd go after them, he'd hunt them down and make them suffer.

But he had Littlefoot to think of, he couldn't leave him and go off on the march of death. He closed his eyes. There was a general rule among sharp teeth, and it was that if you killed nothing you'd eat nothing, if you killed something--or found someone else's kill--you'd waste nothing. But there was no way he'd eat his love, which meant that someone else would come along to do it.

Someone who might want to hurt Littlefoot too. It was time to leave, their lair was no longer safe, Chomper would have to find a new place for them.

"Let's go." He commanded. The child followed, but looked back at his mother from time to time. Chomper didn't bother to explain why she wasn't coming, he didn't feel he could find the words to explain it without breaking down and seeming weak.

And besides, Littlefoot was so young, if he was lucky he'd forget all about his mother. Chomper would certainly remember her enough for the both of them.

* * *

**End**

* * *

**Note in regards to Talon and Climber:** Talon and Climber seem to be female rexes in that they're the ones sitting--for some reason--on nests full of eggs and nurturing Short Tail while Blue Back and especially Long Jaw just do whatever they please. However they're slightly smaller than Blue Back and Long Jaw which I well understand was not the case with real T-Rexes. (For that matter I understand T-Rex "families" didn't include a god father, and a Rexy da Wrench either, but please bare with me, you see in some cultures I am considered funny) Perhaps Blue Back and Long Jaw were drawn extra sized to impress the readers, or perhaps their creator was unaware of this fact when he drew his book which is still a stunningly beautiful work anyway, and I suggest you pick up a copy of tribal warfare for the artwork if nothing else. 

I had a lot of fun with this chapter, it was much more ah, lengthy than I had planned, and a little over dramatic considering what the script demanded, however I really like it . . . so back off yo!


	3. The Lost, and The Graveyard

The Bone Valley dinosaurs are just a motley assembly of dinosaurs spotted in the Land Before Time movies, or in The Age or Reptiles comics, with a Spinosaurus thrown in for good measure. I am well aware of the fact that many of them did not share a time line (The time of Dimetrodon I actually did **not** know about, but thanks to a kind reader for informing me. A Dimetrodon does appear in the first Land Before Time movie, so I didn't think it'd be a problem to have a few in this story) how these Sauropod Graveyard dinosaurs might have appeared in the Age of Reptiles however is utterly, utterly changed for my own needs. I feel kind of bad about that for some reason . . .

InThe Adventure of Bone Valleystory the dinosaurs of Bone valley are organized and led by Ravener, a deinonychus with a striking resemblance to Neckbiter (if you haven't figured out why, this prologue may help explain some things) Ravener wants to expand his influence, this is not necessarily an attempt to conquer everything, being a dinosaur the very idea of conquest is alien to him, and he has no intention of leaving his comfortable sauropod grave yard. It is however an attempt to send his minions out to hunt in the prey rich--at least compared to the canyon--territory of other predators, who can either take it as it comes or get killed trying to do something about it.

* * *

**_First Passage . . ._  
The Lost!**

* * *

"You need to watch Gara." Halla said firmly. "I know I can trust you with the responsibility, my dear." 

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Neckbiter scoffed, ignoring her as he glared at Dark Eye and One Claw who were about to go hunting. How he hated Dark Eye!

"I asked you to watch Gara. I know I can . . . uh . . . _can_ I trust you with this responsibility?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" Neckbiter waved her words away like flies.

"You will watch Gara?" Halla demanded, disbelieving.

"Whatever." Neckbiter growled. "Stop speaking to me."

Halla shook her head, she wanted to make sure but she didn't have much longer before she was left behind, so she decided to have faith in her mate and set off with the hunting party . . .

Neckbiter noticed her going and was taken aback! Why hadn't she told him that she was going hunting? Oh well, no matter.

Then the deinonychus noticed the infant staring up at him. "She left you behind too?" He scoffed incredulously. "Honestly, what an irresponsible parent!" He cried. With Halla gone, who would watch the hatchling? They only had one left, if anything happened to it . . . well Neckbiter certainly wasn't going to watch it.

He decided to leave it where it was, what were the odds of something bad happening to it?

But the little creature tried to follow him, so he roared at it to scare it off. It scurried away and he went about his business chuckling to himself.

* * *

Gara ran like lightning for the log his mother had crossed over on. Where was she? Why had she left him with his scary father? 

She'd get a good squawking to once he found her . . . if he found her.

As the little deinonychus wondered where he was he failed to stop and look around. Failed to understand that the faster he ran the further away he got from home and safety.

And so his little legs moved all the faster. As he ran through the early morning he began to hear new sounds . . .

One of them had to be his mother! He rushed off in the direction of the nearest one, or at least what he believed to be the nearest one.

He came to a hill and leapt onto a protruding rock to get a good look at what was below him . . . and at what he saw was a loudly snoring dinosaur, it was huge and its back was covered in plates, from its tail came three great spikes, and a fourth that seemed to have been broken in half.

Definitely not mama, the little Deinonychus thought. He turned away from it and was about to run away very quickly when the rock came loose and fell, knocking Gara face forward, the little dinosaur tumbled and rolled down the hill, hitting the spike tailed dinosaur in the head.

The bigger dinosaur opened one weary eye, and examined the little deinonychus.

Then Gara heard something loud rolling down after him, and leapt over the stegosaur's head just in time to avoid the rock.

The stegosaurus was not so lucky, and the rock rolled right into its head.

It got to its feet and roared in outrage, Gara turned and ran away as fast as he could, the stegosaurus followed after him, and it was easy to tell it was enraged! The little dinosaur ran like his life depended on it!

There was a loud crashing sound, a terrible roar that made Gara and the spike tail freeze in terror, suddenly a giant meat eating monster appeared, knocking a tree down as it exploded out of the vegetation.

The tree nearly landed on Gara, who hopped out of the way quickly! The spike tail turned and ran as fast as its four legs would carry it, and the two fingered predator followed after it, both leaving the baby deinonychus alone, terrified.

He was unsure of where to go . . . but he decided that since he had gotten lost by going forward, if he kept going forward he would reach the safety of home sooner or later.

So he bolted straight ahead, determined to reach home as soon as possible!

His little heart was pounding, whether because he was tired, or still scared he had no idea, all he knew was that he couldn't stop, he had to get home, had to find his mama, had to be safe!

He came to a fast running river, he slowed and stopped, breathing hard he looked back and forth, there didn't seem to be anything dangerous, but this definitely wasn't home.

Still, he was thirsty, and he remembered mother and the other adults leading him and the other infants to bodies of water where they could drink . . .

So he leaned forward and drank.

He saw fish in the water, and found he was hungry. He lunged forward to catch one, grabbing for it with his two small hands.

The fish swam away effortlessly, and Gara leapt after it, landing in water so deep that only his tail could touch the bottom! He squawked in panic and tried to run . . .

But his legs moved slowly, and he didn't seem to be moving . . . at least not in the direction he wanted!

Squawking about it did not seem very effective either, no one was coming to help him. He just kicked his legs and flailed his arms trying to escape the water, but it pulled him and pulled him, pushed him and pushed him, the stream ran quickly and took the little deinonychus with it!

Gara heard an oncoming roar, not like the roar of that spike tail, or the roar of that two fingered sharp tooth . . . it was different . . .

He screeched and water began to pour down his throat, soon he was completely underwater, he screeched again, this time under water!

His legs kicked wildly, his tail thrashed, his arms struggled! His little head broke the surface in time to see strange bushes ahead of him . . . no . . . those weren't bushes.

The roar became louder, it prevented Gara from thinking. What was that roar? Why did those bushes look so . . . not right?

Of course! The had trunks, and only trees had trunks! Buy why could he see the tops of the trees and not the bottoms? Were they floating along in the water?

No more time to think about it, suddenly he was falling, being pulled down by the water!

He looked down . . . no up! No it was down, he was tumbling down through the water, the ground rushed up at him, and when the roaring didn't fill his ears, the water did!

Now he understood the roar he heard was the sound of a water fall! He'd heard of those, they were supposed to be beautiful. This was definitely not beautiful.

He hit the lake below him with a terrible splash, he tried to get to the surface but he was still being dragged under, the roaring water pushed him further and further down!

He closed his eyes, he kicked his legs, he waved his arms, he tried not to breathe.

Suddenly he felt himself rise up out of the water . . . high up out of the water!

He opened his eyes in surprise and saw the water far below him!

Yes, he was going back up the waterfall! He realized now that to get home he had to go back! All the way back! In the other direction, not the front one!

Then he realized something else . . . his tail was in something's mouth! He turned his head to see a small head attached to a long neck raising him above the ground.

He snarled at it, and it dropped him in surprise, letting out a howl of shock. Gara fell down, down, down!

SPLASH! Right into the water!

The pair of long neck dinosaurs began to grunt back and forth to each other excitedly as Gara struggled through the water back towards the bank.

When the little deinonychus reached it he snapped at them and roared his most threatening roar and bared his fangs at them.

The two long necks looked at each other, and did not seem very afraid at all. Gara realized quite suddenly that something so big had no reason to fear him! They seemed rather amused when they lifted their great big feet up and brought them down on him!

The little dinosaur bolted as fast as he could, avoiding the large feet that threatened to smash him!

The little carnivore thought bitter thoughts to himself as he ran for his life.

And he kept on running long after the sounds of stomping faded, he looked around, tired, desperate, frightened.

He didn't like being frightened! It was a terrible feeling and the more he realized how frightened he was the angrier it made him!

He wandered through the woods now, certain that if he got lost in the woods he could be found in the woods.

He smelled several different scents, and heard several different sounds, but nothing familiar. He wandered aimlessly . . .

Finally, too tired to continue he set himself down in the shadow of a great tree and closed his eyes.

But that's when a third long neck decided to knock the tree down! For the second time that day Gara leapt out of the way as tree came crashing down towards him! Tree stars flew all about and baby long necks--tiny compared to their parents but still bigger than Gara--fell upon the leaves with abandon!

How many more dinosaurs could there be in this area? Gara was bewildered! He leapt over the tree, which was rapidly becoming a barren log, and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him!

He ran on until finally he came out of the woods! But where was the pyramid? He stood on the edge of the woods, looking out at the wasteland before him.

It seemed an endless expanse of rock and dirt, how could such a lush forest simply end in something so different?

He heard a noise from behind him, and having suffered through enough trials to know by now that confrontation should be avoided, he dove for cover.

Hiding in the bushes the little deinonychus looked out and saw . . .

More deinonychus! These ones did not look familiar . . . but if they were deinonychus! They must be part of his clan, they must be headed for the pyramid!

They were unpleasant to look at, most of them had so many scars Gara was surprised to see they were still alive. He fell in behind the pack which moved across the rocky desert. Surly he'd be home with his mama soon, where it would be safe and quiet.

* * *

Black Tooth, named for his rotting grin, stared at the column of deinonychus returning to the canyon. Outcasts, exiles, his people. 

They were weary, some looked as if they might not even be able to hold themselves up against a strong gust of wind! They were old.

The deinonychus had never been the power in the canyon, they were the minority, second class citizens even. They were only able to survive by working together.

The canyon was filled with rouge predators, and mixed packs made up of exiles. Conditions were so poor that the hatchling to survive its infancy was rare, and the one to live into adulthood was rarer still.

It was a vicious cycle, the ova raptors and other egg-nappers stole the deinonychus eggs, the deinonychus hunted the egg-nappers and stole the ova raptor eggs, the ova raptors hunted the deinonychus and ate the egg-napper's eggs, the two finger that ruled the canyon had no eggs and hunted everyone.

The fan backs slithered about and ate anyone they could catch, the dome skulls didn't seem to eat anyone, but they did make sport of crushing deinonychus hip bones with their powerful head butting attack.

The various flying predators ate anyone who wasn't weary enough, and the diseases and illnesses killed anyone who wasn't strong enough.

But just before he was killed in a raid by velociraptors, Black Tooth's father had told him that it would be one of their kind who killed the roaming two finger and that the one to do it would be called the Reaver.

That deinonychus would be much darker in color than the average, and Black Tooth had shared this legend with the rest of his pack when he took control. It gave them a reason to continue reproducing, despite the fact that out of the past five broods no hatchling had lived to adulthood. Now, finally Black Tooth's own mate had produced just such a hatchling.

A little female, already darker than any of her siblings. Black Tooth had already dubbed her the Reaver.

Why a darker hide would help with the destruction of the roaming two finger, Black Tooth couldn't guess, but he'd spent so much time assuring his pack that his father's prediction would come true that he believed it himself.

As he lost himself in thought he noticed something trailing behind the returning pack, a small black something.

Black Tooth rushed down from the mouth of his cave to investigate, barking an order to the two pack hunters taking up the rear.

How they had failed to notice that they were being followed was shameful! They must have been blinded by old age! Black Tooth's hunters turned and stared at the little thing that had followed them, and now Black Tooth, who was sure that his eyes were perfectly all right even if the one on the right tended to haze over from time to time, could see quite clearly the little deinonychus.

His hide was as dark as mud, the stripes on his back, his entire tail, legs and arms were completely colored black.

Most importantly, he was a male.

Black Tooth's father had said that the Reaver would come . . . he had not necessarily said that it would be born. And why would a savior be female?

It all made sense now . . . but what if he was wrong?

A thousand thoughts raced through Black Tooth's brain as his two hunters charged for the little deinonychus, which didn't seem to realize that its own kind would be very happy to eat it.

Black Tooth quickly snapped out a new order, and the two advancing hunters stopped their attack just before it would have become too late.

The hatchling looked up at him as if it were trying to recognize who he might be. Was he lost? An exile? Had his pack been killed?

Did it even matter? He was here, and he might just be the Reaver!

Black Tooth decided then and there to claim this hatchling as his own, he'd call him Rend, and his own hatchling's name would be changed from Reaver to Maim.

Whichever one of them could kill the tyrant king of the canyon would be the one to wear the title of Reaver.

* * *

**_Second Passage . . .  
_****The Graveyard!**

* * *

Maim glared at Rend, her twin. The two were the youngest members of the hunting party, and constantly competing. The pack's leader, Black Tooth seemed to encourage the competition, even encouraged the two to fight. 

Maim would have killed Rend long ago if she could have, but he was clever. She was a little bigger, but he was stronger, and a proper ambush opportunity had never presented itself to her!

Until now!

The situation was chaos! It had started when the pack found the tracks of an old long neck. Why the long necks came here to die was a mystery to Maim, and she didn't really care either since they provided the canyon carnivores with much needed nourishment.

However when they caught up to the long neck it had already been killed by a pack of velociraptors, Half Tail, the leader of the hunt, had decided to steal the kill from the small pack, which the deinonychus pack had done.

But then the raptors returned with friends, and had swarmed over the kill sight, outnumbering the invading deinonychus two to one.

Rend was beset by a trio of raptors, and only Maim was close enough to help. Together the three would be no match for them . . . but if she just looked the other way . . . her brother, her rival, would die.

On the other hand she had a better chance of escaping with her own life if she helped Rend and he helped her.

What's a girl to do?

Maim hesitated a moment longer, hoping one of the raptors would get lucky and solve the problem for her, and when that didn't happen she roared a warning roar and charged forward!

Her killing toe claws went to work immediately on the first of the smaller, red predators, Rend lunged for the shocked raptor and crushed its skull in his powerful jaws.

How dare he? Here Maim had come to save him, and he dared to steal that kill from her? He'd done it to spite her, she was sure of it! He was _always _taking what was rightfully hers!

Eyes wild with outrage, Maim leapt over Rend and slammed into a second raptor in midair. The two fell to the ground, clawing and biting each other, Maim got up first and stomped on the other dinosaur, pinning it down as she bit down on the other raptor's chest, ripping into its rib cage and killing it.

Blood flowed over her long pink tongue, energizing her! She roared in exhilaration, and also to scare the other raptors. In bone valley a clash between packs usually ended once one clan had killed enough of the other's members.

But the raptors still held the numeric advantage, Half Tail, the leader of this hunt, and a few of his other veteran hunters struggled against twice their number in the red, yapping monsters. Another deinonychus, secluded from the rest of the pack was overwhelmed by five of the yapping creatures, Maim wished that she had helped him.

It would have made it easier to justify not helping Rend.

Rend finished the third raptor just in time to sneer up at her. His look alone told Maim that he was pleased with himself for having killed two when she only killed one.

She scowled at him and they rushed to Half Tail's aid.

But Rend slowed and fell behind, for an instant Maim thought he might be too scared to continue, then she felt the sharp pain in her tail!  
Rend bit down on it, the scum was attacking her! He pulled her back and she fell to the ground. He stepped on her back to keep her from getting up, she roared at him, expecting his jaws to come down on the back of her head at any moment.

But as she thrashed about she saw what had made her twin stop her.

The two fingered predator rushed into the fray, it didn't care who it killed, it seemed intent on simply slaughtering everything standing between it and the long neck carcass.

It leapt onto the kill, and landed right on top of one of Half Tail's hunters and two of the raptors. It roared a threatening roar and bit down on Half Tail's half of a tail, and threw him up so high that Maim thought he might land on the top of the canyon!

But he didn't make it that high, instead he splattered into the canyon wall, causing a minor rock slide.

The two fingered predator was the king of the canyon, covered with the scars of a thousand battles from a thousand smaller carnivores who thought they might stand a chance against it, it glared in the direction of Maim and Rend, turning its head to glare at them with its great left eye, and roared at them, threatening, daring them to come.

Maim looked at Rend, he was smiling. He nodded towards the left side of the larger predator, as if Maim should try to attack from there.

Maim glared at him incredulously, he had to be insane!

But he was already slowly stalking towards its right side. Maim decided to do advance . . . slowly.

Rend barked an order to her . . .

Faster!

Without even thinking she bolted, running past the larger predator, which turned its head to follow her with its great eye! It opened its jaws and turned its head ready to close a vice on the young pack hunter, and Maim was about to run right into the trap!

But suddenly the two finger threw its head back and howled a terrible roar!

Rend had latched onto its neck, claws and teeth ripping away at the beast's vulnerable neck, and clawing his way up to the top of the head!

The two fingered monster had very small arms, he swung his head from side to side trying to catch Rend, Maim could have ended her rival right then by simply leaping onto the back of the monster's neck and knocking Rend off, instead she ran in front of its great eye and roared threateningly at it.

Ludicrous that such a small opponent should threaten it! But it could see her, it could not see Rend, it followed her and roared at her, she ran.

And Rend did . . . whatever it was he thought he could do to that thing.

Suddenly the two finger let out a terrible roar, but it was different from the other roars.

It was a roar of pain, and surprise! Maim turned around and saw Rend perched on top of the two fingered dinosaur's skull, his claw dug into the king's left eye, blood pouring from the wound!

Rend leapt down from the rex's skull, triumph displayed on his face, and a look of horror came to Maim's.

What was he? Why was he? Why wasn't she?

Rend landed softly on his feet, and gave his sister a cocky nod.

Then the king bit down on him and tossed him aside!

Maim felt a rush of mixed feelings, Rend was dead!

He had to be, she did not know that he had landed softly in the guts of the dead long neck, and was merely dazed.

She roared at the tyrannosaur, getting its attention.

It was blind, she realized. That was how Rend had snuck up on its right side, its right eye had been blinded some time ago. Now its left eye was blinded as well, if she never acknowledged her rival's abilities in any other way, she would admit that Rend had been observant.

And clever! She roared and led the sharp tooth on, letting it follow her.

At first it was slow, confused and cautious, but gradually it became more sure of itself, and it followed her, running at full speed!

She led it to the wall, and it slammed into it head on!

The rocks slid down to crush it, Maim leapt away quickly, but not quick enough. The rock slide consumed her too, burying her as well as the two finger!

But the rocks stopped before they could burry her completely. She looked around frantically for any kind of help, or any kind of predator! She realized she must have run far out of the pack's territory, perhaps she had even left the raptor territory, which meant she could be anywhere, anything might come now!  
She head a low rumble . . .

And the two fingered predator's head irrupted from beneath the rubble! It roared in outrage, Maim lowered her head, accepting her fate.

And Rend, thrice cursed _Rend_ leapt over her head and onto the canyon king's. He attacked the base of its skull with utter abandon, urging painful roar out after painful roar from the larger predator!

Finally the two finger's head slumped, and it simply died. Rend sent Maim a cocky glare.

Maim just averted her gaze, refusing to believe it as she struggled to dig herself out.

Suddenly Rend was by her side, throwing clawfulls of rock away from her, and a trio of their own kind--what was left of their fifteen member hunting party--appeared to assist.

They seemed in awe of Rend, and why not? He had killed the canyon's reigning king . . .

Hadn't he?

* * *

Before the death of the tyrannosaur neither Rend nor Maim had ever heard of the prophecy that had revolved around them, the Reaver candidates. 

Neither had ever been told that killing the larger predator was expected of one of them, Rend--er Reaver suspected this was to keep them from setting off to find the two fingered menace before they were ready.

Reaver, who had been known first as Gara, then as Rend, thought on his new name.

He didn't really care for it any more than he had cared for Rend, or that other name, which in truth he could not remember.

Like Maim, the death of his adopted father mattered very little to him, what mattered was that he controlled the pack, and it was time for a change.

He had grown up in this canyon, and he hated it, it was time to change everything about it, make it his own.

He was the king now, or at least he would be.

Word spread quickly that a mere pack hunter had slain the great and fearsome canyon king. Maim's contribution--much greater than Reaver allowed her to believe--was completely forgotten in the story telling.

But the fame gave Reaver the tool he needed to seize control. Most of the canyon's population had been mixed packs of predators doing what they had to just to survive in the first place, now that the canyon's deinonychus clan had been decimated Reaver set out to take control of the other carnivores as well.

Having been the one to kill the two finger--and done it so effortlessly, according to the legend--that had kept everyone in fear before after the first few challengers were slaughtered Reaver was seen as something more than a mere pack hunter, and his word became law.

Not two seasons after Reaver had claimed the title, and the power that went with it he began to hear whispers and rumors of the Great Valley. A valley surrounded by mountains and filled with flat teeth.

He was fulfilling his destiny. He was going to bring a better life to the carnivores of the bone valley. They would start by exploring the world around them, sending mixed packs into the lush forests of Reaver's childhood memories.

And sooner or later they'd find this Great Valley.

* * *

**END**


	4. The Valley, and The Children

The final part of the prologue is about the leaf eaters. Littlefoot, Ali, Cera, Ducky, Spike, and Peterie. I have chosen to do a chapter for them for several reasons. First of all, they're an important part of this story too, secondly I thought this would be a great oportunity to show how they drift appart. Third, it's my book and I'll do what I want with it! Fourth, I thought I might show a little of how the valley dinosaurs came about not taking Littlefoot seriously anymore. This was originally scripted as the first Chapter, but I wanted to save the biggest and most dramatic for last (granted Chomper's story was rather more dramatic than I originally planned, but I wont change it because I like it, so there!)

We've seen a day in the lives of the "Pack Hunters", we've seen a day in the lives of the "Two Fingers" (Man I wish I'd thought up a better name for the Rexes) and we've even seen how Reaver came to take control over Bone Canyon. So far we've focused on Age of Reptiles, and original dinosaurs, but isn't this a Land Before Time story?

Well of course it is, and what's The Land Before Time without it's main Dinosaurs? Nothing but a collection of disasters happening with no children--by far smarter than their parents--to solve the problems!

First we'll tackle the big issue, what happened to the grown ups? Then we tackle the kids.

* * *

**_Passage One  
_****Putting Up Walls . . .**

* * *

Littlefoot stared at the small nest, and clutch of eggs. How could such simple, frail little item contain an entire life? 

Eight fragile little eggs, eight tiny lives. Littlefoot shook his head in awe, parents always got mushy over their children, but he just couldn't help it!

"They're all miracles!" Littlefoot sighed.

"_Our_ miracles." Ali said sweetly.

Littlefoot smiled, he'd never thought he might be a parent someday, never expected to have Ali as his beloved partner, had always suspected that Ali, beautiful and highly sought after, would want some other male, perhaps a more popular one, or a herd leader . . . he'd been wrong, and she'd chosen him!

Now they were just like any other happy couple, and they would soon have eight magnificent little ones.

Littlefoot gazed lovingly at both Ali and the nest, when he heard a commotion not far away. Looking up, he saw a gathering of leafeaters headed for the wall, he saw a familiar flyer soar abovehead, and called out to his old friend, Petrie.

"What's happening?" Littlefoot had to shout the question to get Petrie's attention.

"I not know, but something bad!" Petrie called back, not turning around.

Littlefoot looked to Ali, who shook her head, "I should stay with the nest." She said.

Littlefoot nodded, he didn't want to leave Ali and the nest, he was enjoying their company, however the commotion couldn't simply be ignored . . .

_

* * *

_

Rock Nose, the three horn led her herd towards the great valley. They had followed the legendary trail . . . and they should soon find it!

But all they found were rocks and stones!

"This is a dead end!" Rock Nose's second, a three horn named Slipp, snapped!

"I have eyes." Rock Nose scowled.

"Do they see that this is a dead end?" Slipp demanded.

Slipp did not believe in the Great Valley, but Rock Nose had managed to convince her herd that it existed . . . she couldn't believe that she'd been wrong, it had to be somewhere around here!

The herd had been maliciously hunted by the predators outside the valley, but Rock Nose would have no more of it!

Rock Nose _knew_ the valley was just on the other side of those rocks!

She began to climb.

"Are you crazy?" Slipp demanded, but he too began to climb.

The entire herd followed Rock Nose and Slipp, their leaders! Rock Nose knew, just knew that the Great Valley, their salvation was just on the other side of those rocks!

Rock Nose climbed, she would not relent, she would reach the top, she would enter the Great Valley!

She moved each leg, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four . . .

Just a bit more!

It was practically a vertical wall, but there were areas where the three horns could climb upon the rocks, and Rock Nose seemed to find each one with no difficulty!

She climbed higher, and higher, some of her kind were passing her by, taking other, easier routes, some were far behind and still others milled about the bottom of the wall, unsure.

But then one of the others called out, "I-it's there! Th-the Great Valley!"

Rock Nose raised her head in surprise, and triumph!

And missed her footing! She slipped and fell, tumbling down the all until suddenly she stopped!

Rock Nose looked around frantically, and saw Slipp and another holding onto her by the tail, their mouths were the only thing they could use to hold onto her, so when Rock Nose shouted to Slipp, "What are you doing? You'll fall too!" all he could do was harden his eyes and grunt.

Slipp and the other began to pull Rock Nose up, and she dared to think she might survive after all . . .

But the rocks fell out from beneath them . . .

Rock Nose bellowed loudly as they fell, and then . . . it was over.

* * *

"This tragedy," Niocolai scowled, "was _caused_ by that wall!" 

"If they had only waited—" Littlefoot protested, but Nicolai cut him off!

"If they had only waited sharp teeth could have fallen upon them?" The older long neck scoffed.

"No, if they'd waited we could have led them through the path!" Cera snapped.

"They are not used to the soft and easy life of the great valley as we are, they feared for their lives!" Nicolai snapped at Cera, "How can you expect them to just wait?"

"Patience is a virtue, yep, yep!" Duckie pointed out.

"Nonsense!" Nicolai roared!

Littlefoot appreciated that his friends had risen to his defense just as quickly as Nicolai, a cousin of Ali and nemesis of grandpa, had set on the attack!

"I-I never expected anyone to—" Littlefoot began, this time Cera cut him off!

"Be so impatient and stupid!" Cera shouted, "Those three horns should have waited!"

"No way this Littlefoot's fault." Petrie said.

"No one is saying that Littlefoot meant for this to happen," Cera's father, one of the elders said, and again Nicolai, determined to make himself heard over everyone else, interrupted!

"Though one can hardly deny that it is indeed his fault!"

"That's not true!" Ali snapped, stomping her foot.

"Oh, of course you wouldn't see it that way, you're his mate, he can do no wrong in your eyes." Nicolai said dismissively

Littlefoot shook his head slowly, he disliked Nicolai immensely, but he agreed whole heartedly with what was being said . . . this had been his fault! This had been his mistake! The wall was meant to keep predators out, so many had died leading to it's almost accidental creation, but . . . Littlefoot hadn't considered that it might harm other leaf eaters. Keep some of them out, certainly, but lead to the death of three healthy three horns?

Maybe on some level, impatience had been the culprit, but Littlefoot felt responsible . . . he hadn't built the wall, a landslide during a vicious battle at the valley's main entrance had done that . . . but he'd maintained it, done his best, with the aid of Ducky, Spike and Petrie to keep it up. Now it'd caused a calamity!

"Littlefoot himself meant no harm," Nicolai said finally, and no one raised argument, "however he obviously lacks the wisdom and foresight necessary to predict the dangerous consequences of his actions, he is . . . frankly, a blundering fool!"

"Outrageous!" Ali screamed!

"You pompous—" Spike began,

"Stuck up—" Petrie added,

But Cera's father cleared his throat very loudly, silencing them before Cera could have her no doubt extremely profane say.

"It is obvious to me," said Cera's father, "that this meeting is resorting to nothing short of mudslinging. We should take a break and collect our thoughts. No doubt our cousins, the actual victims of this tragedy will want to shed new light on the argument."

Littlefoot heard the words, and nodded dumbly, he left as soon as the council of elders adjourned and wandered off alone.

* * *

"What can happen to Littlefoot if he's found responsible for the deaths?" Spike asked. 

"Nothing! He not responsible!" Petrie snapped.

"Of course not!" Cera snapped back, "but if that Nicolai gets his way . . ."

"Littlefoot could be exiled! He could . . ." Ducky said sadly.

"If Littlefoot leaves Great Valley, Petrie leaves Great Valley!" Petrie said firmly.

"It wont come to that!" Cera said, "My dad's not stupid enough to believe everything Nicolai says, and the other elders have to remember that Littlefoot is anything but a fool!"

"Littlefoot? A fool?" Spike laughed at the absurdity of it!

"What a ridiculous idea! Littlefoot has stopped more disasters in the Great Valley than Nicolai or any of the elders put together!" Cera agreed.

"And he is our friend!" Ducky said, "We will stand by him no matter what! We will, we _will_!"

"Thank you all . . ." Littlefoot said softly, and Cera nearly jumped out of her hide! How did he, so large, manage to sneak up on them and listen in to their conversation without them noticing?

"Thank you all," Littlefoot said again, "but I don't think I want you to try to defend me anymore."

"You crazy!" Petrie said.

"I . . . I don't think it's right." Littlefoot said, "I think Nicolai is right. This was my fault, if I had allowed the wall to deteriorate, instead of keeping it strong it would have become more easily accessible by now, that tragedy never would have happened."

"You _are_ crazy!" Cera cried, "Nobody is to blame for what happened, it's sad it happened, but Nicolai only wants to blame you because he knows that the valley dinosaurs have more respect for you than they have for him!"

"No . . . really . . ." Littlefoot said softly, "It's all right. You guys . . . don't need to stand up for me this time."

Cera scoffed. "If you don't want your friends to help you, then you _are_ a fool!"

"We not _offering_, flat head." Petrie said dryly.

"We're going to stand by you whether you like it or not! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky said.

Littlefoot lowered his head, and shrugged his great shoulders. "All right . . ." He said, and Cera felt as if she had finally talked some sense into him, but Littlefoot said gloomily, " don't expect too much . . . I _did_ lack wisdom and foresight, Nicolai's case is hard to argue against."

"_Common sense_ argues against it. You'd _be_ on the council of elders if you weren't so young." Spike pointed out, and Cera nodded in agreement.

Littlefoot looked off into the distance, and shrugged again.

_

* * *

_

Ali did not leave the council cave with Littlefoot, instead, glaring hatefully at her elder cousin, Nicolai, she followed him. "Why must you constantly attack Littlefoot? He's done nothing to you!"

Nicolai scoffed, "Naturally. Obviously his victims tend to end up dead."

"That's nonsense!" Ali snapped, "His 'victims' end up dead? You're being ridiculous!"

"No, dear Ali, _you_ are simply blinded by your misguided feelings for him." Nicolai said.

Ali shook her head, "Are you that far beyond reality?"

"Am _I_ far from reality? Let us ask one of Littlefoot's victims . . ." Nicolai said coldly, and he approached a ragged looking three horn. "You there, you're one of the newcomers, are you not?" Nicolai asked pompously.

"Yeah . . . no thanks to that ruddy wall of yours!"

"Indeed, that wall _is_ a nuisance, but certain, greedy dinosaurs keep it around to keep others from entering the great valley." Nicolai said.

"You liar!" Ali gasped, but the Three Horn seemed to be leaning more towards Nicolai's way of thinking,

"You just cant accept the truth, cousin." Nicolai said coldly.

"That wall is a problem, and it's got to be rectified!" The three horn pointed out, "Rock Nose and Slipp . . . who ever leads our herd now will want to see some punishment dealt for the stupidity of you valley dwellers!"

Ali glared, "Stupidity? You're calling _us_ stupid? Your entire herd tried to climb a steep cliff!"

"We only did what Slipp and Rock Nose did!" The three horn protested.

"So you cant be blamed for your own actions?" Ali scoffed, "You must have known it was dangerous, your leaders must have known, they climbed anyway. It's tragic what happened, but no one _made_ it happen, it was an accident."

Nicolai shook his head, "Poor girl. Don't you see? Littlefoot _made_ it happen, he cared for that wall as if it were a hatchling, he keeps it strong, expands it I daresay!"

"You know that all Littlefoot does is make sure the wall doesn't collapse!" Ali snapped, "He doesn't expand on it, that's ludicrous! It took dozens of powerful dinosaurs to create that landslide in the first place, and don't forget that if it weren't for the slide the valley would have been overrun by sharp teeth!"

"There are no Sharp Teeth that can enter the valley, they're too stupid." Nicolai said.

"It's true," The three horn said, "Sharp Teeth don't even know about the entrance!"

"They may notice, don't you think, if a large mountain wall suddenly becomes a huge, gapping hole in the sky line?" Ali asked sarcastically.

Nicolai laughed pityingly, "Poor cousin. You _were_ clever . . . once upon a time."

Ali scowled, and left. There was nothing to be gained by preaching to a stone!

* * *

"Excelletnt!" Nicolai said with a grin, "With your testimony Littelfoot will be condemned!" 

The three horn looked up at Nicolai, "But . . . the more I think of it . . . the wall might be a good idea."

"That's nonsense. Anyway it's Littelfoot I want to discredit." Nicolai said coldly.

The three horn cocked his head to the side, "Buy why?"

"Because he commands respect! His entire life he's solved problems and saved others, he's a community leader by virtue of character, while _I_ am properly recognized because of my age, and my wisdom. Yet when they've a problem people go to _him_ before they come to _me_!" Nicolai laughed, "He helps them without asking for anything in return, and I will show him just how thankless they are. I will show him how easy it is to lose the trust of others, I will show him how little effort it takes for the dinosaurs of the great valley to turn on him."

"Why?" Asked the three horn.

Nicolai smiled, "Because, as I've said, he is a threat. With him running about and making a nuiscance of himself, people come to trust him instead of the council. Without the council, how can so many dinosaurs work together without major argument or greavance? When an accident occurs it should be up to the council to solve it, not Littlefoot. He has no right to usurp the powers granted to _me_. He is a threat, and I cannot stop him as long as he continues to help others." Nicolai smiled, "But if others stopped asking for his help, stopped trusting his help, they would turn to me. He would become nothing but a peaceful inhabitant of the valley, and no longer a threat."

The three horn shifted uneasily. "So you don't really care about Rock Nose and Slipp?"

"Don't get me wrong," Nicolai lied, "I am deeply grieved. That is _why_ Littlefoot must be stopped now. That is why, you understand, we must convince the other dinosaurs not to trust his judgement over that of the council. Spread among your herd, the story that Littlefoot is incompetent, that all of his success until now has been through shire dumb luck and good intentions, but that in the end he is nothing but a fool. Because of the tradgety that befell your herd, others will listen patiently and the disease of truth will spread.

"Soon the entire valley will turn their backs on Littlefoot, and then . . . then all will be well." Nicolai said.

"And the wall'll come down?" The three horn asked.

"After a fashion." Nicolai said, "We will make a new entrance, but we shan't destroy the whole wall, as my cousin said, it would be too noticeable, sharp teeth would come to investigate."

The three horn shifted uneasily. "Well okay, if it'll get a new entrance . . ."

* * *

Though in the end Littlefoot was not blamed for the deaths of the three horns officially, it seemed as if everyone in the valley would fix him with a hard stare as he went by. Dinosaurs would avoid him, some refused to speak to him, and almost all of them stared at him, not even bothering to stop if he looked back at them. 

The council eventually ruled—to enthusiastic consent among the valley dinosaurs—to demolish a portion of the wall, providing a new entrance. Littlefoot hated the idea.

But he hadn't been near the wall in the week since the tragedy, a small part of him wanted it all to come down, a small part of him wanted sharp teeth to invade so that everyone would know he'd been right.

But the better part of him—in more ways than one—knew that was wrong, and accepted the council's decision. He accepted the hard stares and the silence from others, it would pass, he was sure.

He still had Ali and his friends, in the end what else did he need?

* * *

**_Passage Two_  
****Coincidental Meetings?**

* * *

She was still so small. Ali couldn't believe she'd ever been that small, Alleria was absolutely tiny! 

"Mama?" Alleria piped up, and Ali blinked herself out of her daze.

"Yes?"

"How big is the world?" Alleria asked.

Ali frowned, "Well . . . it's quite big. The _whole_ great valley, from one end of to the next, from the water fall, to the Great Wall."

"What's on the other side of the great wall?" Alleria asked.

"What do you mean?" Ali asked, evasively.

The little long neck clicked her tongue in thought, the said, "I heard you lived out there. What is it called, how big is it?"

Ali frowned. "It is _very_ big. It is the mysterious beyond, and you can get lost there. That is why you must never go there."

"But . . . if you went with me, I wouldn't get lost." Alleria said.

"I'm not going to the mysterious beyond." Ali laughed.

"But you used to live there!" Alleria protested.

Ali shook her head, and leaned down, taking a closer look at her daughter's face, "And now I don't. I don't plan to go back . . . ever again."

"But why not?" Alleria frowned.

"Well . . . why should we?" Ali asked.

"I want to know what's out there!" Alleria said.

"I guessed as much." Ali smiled, "You're like your father. But . . . it's not safe. I don't want you to get hurt."

Alleria sighed. "Okay, mom." She said.

Ali smiled, "Oh no, I was a child once too. I know what that 'okay' means. I'll be having your promise, little one."

Alleria sighed, "Oh, all right. I promise." Alleria said. Ali smiled, this child of hers was just too much like her father.

* * *

Today was the day. A battle of wills, wits and fortitude, a contest of strength and endurance! 

Only one winner, perhaps only one survivor!

"Today is the day, you're goin' down." Tri said coldly, snorting.

His foe just stood there, silent, daunting.

Tri stomped the ground and charged! He let out a battle cry, and with a loud BANG he slammed into the tree!

It shook a little.

A couple of leaves fell.

Tri grinned superiorly, "Got'cha! Now you know whose boss!"

"You showed 'im!" One of his sisters said with what was probably sarcasm. Luckily Tri didn't really understand sarcasm yet, so it didn't affect him.

"That's my srong boy!" Tri's father chuckled.

"Just like his papa." His mother, Cera nodded.

Tri's superior grin grew. He looked up at his mother and father and said, "Three horns are the strongest, right?"

"'Course." His father said simply.

"Always have been, always will be." Cera said with conviction.

Tri nodded and looked down to eat the leaves he'd gotten for himself . . . except that his sisters had already gotten to them. With a sigh he looked to his mother, "Mama, why are we the strongest?"

Cera laughed, "Because we have to be."

"Yeah . . . why?" Tri asked.

Cera frowned. "Well . . . in the old days, before you were born we had to protect ourselves."

"From what?" Tri asked.

Cera was quiet for a long time, she shared a concerned look with his father, but he only nodded and she said, "From the Sharp Teeth of course."

"The what?" Tri asked.

"The sharp teeth. They're . . . dinosaurs who eat other dinosaurs. They used to try to eat three horns, so we had to be strong to protect ourselves."

Tri thought on this and said, "Well where are these sharp teeth now?"

"They cant come into the Great Valley, the wall keeps them out." Cera said.

"Oh . . ." Tri said thoughtfully. So there were things out there that used to eat three horns? That meant that they were probably stronger than three horns . . . he just didn't understand how that could even be possible.

* * *

Ducky sighed at the sight of her five recently hatched children, they were just so small, so adorable, so lovable, so . . . energetic. 

It was no wonder she'd been separated from her family as a child, with such energetic chirping children it was a wonder she hadn't lost any herself!

Yes all four were still right . . . oh!

* * *

Thorny and Spike had come to visit aunt Ducky and her family, and Thorny could not have been more bored! 

Or so he thought, but when he got there Ducky was running back and forth and looking under rocks and panicking and talking frantically to the rest of her herd, it was the most animated Thorny had ever seen the boring old swimmer!

"Oh Spike! He is missing!" Ducky cried.

"Eh?" Asked Spike.

"Frog! Frog! Frog! My Frog, he is missing!" Ducky cried.

"Ah." Nodded Spike.

Thorny didn't really know why this was a problem, he'd seen frogs and they were weird. They made that silly sound and ate bugs.

"My son Frog," Ducky said, and so Thorny understood why it was a problem, "He has gone missing!"

Spike looked terribly concerned, but it was Thorny who said, "We'll just find him then! Me and my dad'll look for him!"

"Oh really? Really, Spike?" Ducky gasped.

Spike nodded, and Thorny grinned, "We'll find the baby and be heroes!"

"Uh-huh." Spike said.

* * *

Pteras was the daughter of Petrie, she knew she should be an incredible flier! 

But she just couldn't fly! It was so frustrating! She was at that age, _that age_ her father had been when _he_ learned to fly! It just wasn't fair! She should be able to fly! It made her so angry!

This was going to change it, this time she knew she'd manage it, this time she'd fly! She had climbed to the top of the tallest tree in the valley . . . well, the tallest tree she dared to climb to the top of, and now she would simply throw herself out of it!

In theory she'd have a very long time to learn to fly before she reached the ground!

She took a deep breath and hurled herself out of the tree!

And . . . fell!

Yes she soared like a rock and fell just as fast!

She flapped her wings frantically, desperate to succeed, determined to fly!

But . . . the ground was rushing up at her rather quickly . . . maybe she should—oh no, the ground!

She grabbed onto the tree's last branch at the last second! Gasping for breath and shaking the little would be flying dinosaur began to climb to three again. This time she'd fly! This time she'd do it! This time she'd show her mama and papa what a good flier she was!

* * *

Alleria was just wandering through the valley on her own, with no intention of doing anything even remotely close to investigating the mysterious beyond, even though the very thought dominated her mind so much that she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going. 

So when she walked into that tree, it was really to be expected. She banged her head, and heard a surprised cry! She looked up and something landed on her head!

The thing leapt up and tried to flap its wings, it hovered for about two seconds, and Alleria screamed in surprise! But then the dinosaur—for Alleria recognized her as a dinosaur—fell, and landed right in Alleria's mouth!

"Ugh! Mmet moph mi mouph!"Alleria tried to talk with a mouth full of flier!

"Aha!" A voice cried, "A sharp tooth!"

"Muht?" Alleria blinked, looking over to see a young three horn, slightly reddish in color lowering his head and padding the ground preparing to charge.

"I'll show you that three horns are stronger, sharp tooth!" The three horn said, and he charged!

"Sharp tooth? Sharp tooth!" The little flier in Alleria's mouth screamed, and popped out of Alleria's mouth, wings beating furiously!

And she flew up!

Alleria had to think quickly to avoid disaster, she threw herself to the side and the three horn slammed full on into the tree that the flier had come out of! He hit it with such force that almost all of its green food rained down onto the three of them!

Alleria shook her head to clear it, though really it was the three horn who'd have to do that, she wondered if that collision had hurt!

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"What? Oh yeah." The three horn said, sounding a little embarrassed. "Sorry I missed. But I'll get you now, and I'll show you that—"

"Three horns are the strongest. I know." Alleria said, eyes narrow. "You know . . . I'm not a sharp tooth. They're much bigger."

"You're bigger than me." The three horn pointed out."

"Uh . . . yeah, but I'm not big enough to eat you, besides my teeth aren't sharp!" Alleria said, she opened her mouth and moved her tongue over her lat teeth, "See?"

The three horn shrugged. "I guess so. My name's Tri . . . what's yours?"

"I'm Alleria." She answered.

"And _I'm_ flying!" The little flier cried in utter joy!

"Yeah . . . so? What's so special about that?" Tri said.

"Can _you_ fly?" Alleria asked.

"No." Tri said.

"That's why its special." Alleria said. She wasn't really sure why she thought that, but it seemed correct.

"I didn't mean it wasn't," Tri said defensively, "It's just she's a flier so—"

"This first time!" The flier said gleefully, then she landed on Alleria's head. "My name Pteras!"

Alleria smiled, "Nice to meet you. Both of you . . . why are you on my head?"

Looking up with some difficulty Alleria was able to see the little flier shrug.

"Well . . . if you'll 'scuse me," Tri said, getting up and puffing himself up, "_I'm_ on an important mission."

"Really?" Asked Alleria.

"Yeah. I've gotta find all the sharp teeth in the valley and make sure they know whose boss! I'm a three horn, and we're the strongest!"

"Oh . . ." Said Alleria. She shrugged. "I don't think there are any sharp teeth in the great valley, they're all in the mysterious beyond."

"The what now?" Tri asked.

"The Mysterious Beyond." Alleria said sagely, "My mother told me all about it, she used to live there."

"And?" Asked Tri attentively.

"Yes, tell us all about it!" Pteras said eagerly.

"Well . . ." Alleria frowned, not really sure what to say, she decided, "the mysterious beyond is the place beyond the wall, it's a dangerous place where little ones like ourselves should never go. But it's fun too, otherwise my mom and her friends wouldn't have gone there when they were kids." Alleria said, the last part was something she'd just sort of figured out just then and spoken aloud, but Tri and Pteras looked at her as if she were some expert.

It was nice to feel smart, but a little stressful to be expected to know things you didn't, so Alleria said, "I uh, I mean I'm no expert, but my mother is!"

"Oh." Said Tri, disappointed. "Some old grown up."

"Well she's not _old_, but she is grown up." Alleria said defensively.

"Well . . . we can still look for sharp teeth in the valley and make sure they're gone! I men there could be some hiding that we didn't know about!" Tri said.

Alleria smiled, "Okay! And you," She said, looking up at Pteras, "can fly and tell us what you see!"

"Okay." Pteras said, taking off with a bit of difficulty, though once she was in the air she stayed there in exactly the way a rock doesn't!

Pteras soared around them as Alleria and Tri searched through the great valley for . . . well they supposed it would make a lot of sense for them to _know _what a sharp tooth looked like, but Alleria guessed she'd know it when she saw it.

Pteras called down, "See something! Maybe it sharp tooth!"

She descended and landed—rather roughly, actually—and pointed to a small little swimmer fast asleep on a sun bathing rock.

It didn't look very old, so Alleria doubted it should have been away from its nest. "We should take him back to his mama." She said.

"How d'you know his mama doesn't know where he is?" Tri asked.

"I don't." Alleria admitted, "But I don't think she does. He'd be safe in his nest if his mama knew where he was."

"Well okay, and we cant leave him here with Sharp Teeth roaming about." Tri nodded. "Okay, let's go!" He said, and he set off.

"Hey!" Alleria said, "I thought you said we couldn't leave him!"

"Eh? Well yeah. But I cant pick him up, three horns don't have hands." Tri said. "You take care of it."

"But I don't have hands!" Alleria cried. She'd never really thought she needed them before!

"Meh." Was all Tri said, but Pteras picked up the small dinosaur, who'd woken up and began to squawk threateningly at them.

"How're you going to fly?" Alleria asked.

"Uh . . . me no know." Pteras shrugged.

Tri sighed, "Hopeless girls." He said to himself, but Alleria heard him.

"Aha!" A new voice said, "I found him! Haha, I'm a hero!" A spike tail emerged from the tall grass, he had a big body and a small head, as most sharp tails tended to.

"You? But we're the ones who're saving him from the sharp teeth!" Tri said.

"Oh . . . well we can all be heroes." The spike tail shrugged.

"Very good, Thorny!" A grown up spike tail said, "Let's take this little one back to Ducky."

The grown up took the infant and led the way back to its mother, who was quite pleased to see it.

"Oh Frog! You are safe! Yep, yep, yep, yep!"

"These young ones found him." The spike tail said.

"Oh!" The swimmer mother gasped, she looked at Spike, "What are their names?"

"My name Pteras."

"I'm Tri."

"And I'm Alleria." Alleria said shyly.

The mother swimmer smiled, "You are Cera's son, and Petrie's daughter! I knew your parents and we were very best friends, yep, yep—uh, I mean yes." The swimmer smiled, and looked at Alleria, "And your father was the very first friend I ever made! You look just like him . . . only prettier."

"Really?' Alleria gasped, she didn't even know who her father was! The closest thing she had to a father was . . . well, her mother.

It really wasn't the same thing.

Thorny, the little spike tail grinned broadly and said, "Now that we're heroes, we should have a hero's feast."

Tri grinned, "Oh yeah! I already got some green food!"

Alleria smiled, she'd have liked to stay and ask what her father had been like when he as the swimmer's friend, but she seemed too distracted being happy about having her baby back, Alleria decided any questions about her father could be asked later, and probably should be directed towards her mother.

So she went with her new friends and enjoyed their hero's feast instead.

* * *

Ali shook her head in surprise when she saw literally a blast from the past! 

For a moment she thought she saw Littlefoot, Spike, Cera and Petrie all playing together, but it was Alleria, and a trio of other dinosaurs.

She smiled, she knew right away that those were the children of her old friends. It seemed strangely fitting that her daughter make friends with them as well, after all she was like her father in so many other ways it shouldn't have surprised her so much that she'd have his same taste in friends.

She saw Cera, and Spike, Ducky and Petrie all standing nearby. She smiled weakly, not really sure what to say to them.

"Well they get along." Cera said grudgingly.

"Yes . . ." Said Petrie, "And they help Pteras fly."

"Even little Frog keeps trying to sneak off and play with them." Ducky said, "But he is too little right now. Yep, yep."

Ali's smile grew stronger . . . by a bit. "Sort of funny, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Cera asked.

"Well . . . of all the children in the valley, they found each other. Just like all of you did all those years ago."

Spike shrugged. "Maybe they're meant to be friends."

Ali's smile weakened, "I'm sure they were. But I wonder . . . if we're about to be paid back for what we . . . well, mostly _you_¸ put our—but mostly _your_ parents through."

Cera grinned, "Us? You had your share of adventures too, in fact I recall your mother crying when you came of age and saying she never believed the day would come."

Ali smiled genuinely at last, "Well okay, so we were all little hoodlums."

"And they will be too." Spike pointed out. "I'd be amazed if they weren't."

"Well . . . all we can do as parents is try to make sure that when they do set off, we're able to bring them back." Cera said.

"And that we provide understanding ears, like our parents used to?" Ali asked.

"That . . . and we try to set the fear of sharp teeth in them to keep them out of the mysterious beyond!" Cera cried dramatically.

"Like our parents used to." Ducky said.

"It didn't work." Ali pointed out.

"That true too." Petrie nodded.

"Well that's why we're just going to have to make sure Littlefoot keeps that wall up." Cera said.

"Yes." Ali said, "We'll give him our full support."

"As it should be." Ducky said.

* * *

**END**

* * *

Ah, everything out of the way. Whether or not I post Chapter 5 : The Valley Attack will depend on . . . well, nothing really. It'll come up sooner or later, it details why Littlefoot was allowed to rebuild the wall and close the 'door' they forced him to open. Reading the name of the chapter, I am sure you can guess what it's about. It'll also go over why Alleria doesnt know Littlefoot is her father, and why she is an only child when Littlefoot and Ali had more than just one egg. 


End file.
